CoP 3: Starting My Practical

 For my practice I decided that I wanted to research into Maya 2017 and see want was new about it and how the different features have changed. Mainly I wanted to look into the Bifrost aspect of Maya and experiment with particle simulations because this plays a huge part in film and animation and most people don't really notice the effects/simulations in the films, this could be because the the simulations look so realistic so it just blends into the background or that they just don't care as much about the animations/simulations.

I chose to do this because I wanted to increase my abilities within Maya and learn more about what the software can create/produce. This will also give me the knowledge for when I go into industry and help me understand how to experiment with aesthetics in 3D animations/films.

Within Maya I will be developing my abilities to create liquid simulations and particle effects, and I'll create short animations showing what particle simulations Maya can produce and the different techniques you can use which will change the aesthetic of the animation. Whilst doing this I will also explain how the effects are applied to films and animations by breaking down the different steps and showing you how it is placed together onto films and animations.

I've already started producing simulations. I started by researching into liquid simulations and watching tutorials online to show me how its done in Maya. I began by doing a short simple wave simulation just to get a feel of Bifrost within Maya, I created this using the Bifrost liquid and creating a Motion Field using the Boss ripple / wave generator so that I could get a realistic wave motion on the liquid. I also experimented with the different attributes of the liquid and experimented with the 'Master Voxel Size', which means the resolution of the liquid, this will let you increase and decrease the amount of particle that are in the liquid.        

I feel like I need to develop my understanding of Bifrost more and create a couple more simulations before I move on from liquid and start producing dust or different particle simulations. I also want to experiment with the aesthetics for the liquid.